Athletes - Frank Thomas

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	Athletes - Frank Thomas

Frank Edward Thomas (born May 27, 1968 in Columbus, Georgia) is an American Major League Baseball player, nicknamed "The Big Hurt", who currently plays for the Oakland Athletics. Frank Thomas became one of baseball's biggest stars in the 1990s, playing solely for the Chicago White Sox. He was given the nickname "The Big Hurt" by broadcaster Ken Harrelson. Thomas is one of several notable baseball players who played college baseball at Auburn University. Frank Thomas shares a birthday and practically the same statistics as of October 2005 as his contemporary, Jeff Bagwell.

Thomas's defense performance at first base is not particularly impressive; rather, he is known for his offense performance, being one of the best pure hitters in baseball's history. He has been compared to being as close to a right-handed version of Ted Williams as there is. "The Big Hurt" is the only player in major league history to have seven consecutive seasons of a .300 average, and at least 100 walks, 100 runs, 100 runs batted in, and 20 home runs. The only other player to have more than five consecutive seasons accomplishing this feat was Ted Williams (6).

Thomas is a slugger who often hit 35–40 home runs per year as a matter of course. His batting average has been .315 or better many of his years, and quite importantly, he often draws well over 100 walks each season. Thomas has proven himself to be one of the top five right-handed hitters ever and the second best hitter since 1990, behind only Barry Bonds. His career on base percentage is among the top ten of all ballplayers in history.

Thomas is also one of only two first basemen in history to win consecutive Most Valuable Player awards in the major leagues (Hall-of-Famer Jimmie Foxx is the other, in 1932–33). Thomas accomplished this feat in the 1993–94 seasons.

Thomas has been maligned by the media, especially in Chicago due to his constant decline in success. Much of this came about after a disastrous 2002 season, in which he performed so poorly that the White Sox invoked a "diminished skills" clause in his contract. He resurrected his career in 2003; although he hit a subpar .267, he was tied for second in the American League in home runs (42), and was in the league's top ten in walks, extra-base hits, slugging percentage, and on-base plus slugging. In 2005, Thomas hit 12 home runs despite only having 105 at-bats in 35 games. Despite having to sit out the rest of the year due to injuries, he showed he still had the power he showed earlier in his career.

Frank Thomas, unable to have his ankle and foot injuries heal correctly, had his optioned declined by the team on December 7th, 2005. He signed with the Oakland Athletics to a one year, $500,000 deal on January 25, 2006.

He was recently called "an idiot" and "selfish" by Chicago White Sox general manager Ken Williams in a television interview.

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Athletes - Frank Thomas

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